Changing iMovie '08 movie dates

You have movies shot years ago that you've recently digitized. How do you make iMovie sort them by the date they were originally shot rather than when you imported them to your Mac? Like so.

Final Cut Express 4 - iMovie HD's heir apparent

The macosxhints Rating:[Score: 9 out of 10] Developer: Apple/ Product page Price: $199 ($99 upgrade from older versions)I just finished another video project for Macworld (an overview of Sun's VirtualBox virtualization app for Macs), and as I finished the project, I realized just how pleasant it is to work with Final Cut Express -- and that I'd never given it the Pick of the Week nod here on macosxhints.com. Yes, it's relatively expensive, but if you have more than a passing interest in video editing on the Mac, it's well worth the cost of admission.I'll be the first to admit that I've got no aspirations (nor skills to succeed) as a...

Apple releases iMovie 7.1.2

Section: Apple News, Updates, Software + Apps, iLifeToday, Mac users received an iMovie update. Apple has released iMovie 7.1.2. Apple usually doesn’t reveal too much information about its updates, and the iMovie update isn’t any different. When you log onto the Apple support website, the message states, “This update addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues.” The download is 17.9MB. iMovie is a fabulous movie application developed by Apple, Inc., which allows users to create their own movies. I purchased my 17” MacBook Pro almost two years ago, and iMovie was an application I used often. I’ve since moved on to Final Cut Express. iMovie was originally released by Apple in 1999 as a Mac OS 8 application. iMovie joined the iLife ‘06 suite in January 2006. When iMovie ‘08 was released as part of iLife ‘08, it took several steps backwards. I was puzzled by the features that had been left out. Many iMovie users expressed their disappointment because Apple left out a lot of the sophisticated editing features that users had grown to love in iMovie ‘06. Features such as creating classic timeline, creating DVD chapter markers, along with in-timeline audio were completely removed from iMovie ‘08. Apple responded to the complaints made by many iMovie users and released iMovie HD 6, which is available as a free download for those who have purchased iMovie ‘08. If you want to check software updates manually, click on the Apple menu, then click on Software Update. If updates are needed, they will appear, and you can choose to download them. If you haven’t updated iMovie, log onto the Apple support website and download iMovie 7.1.2. Full Story » | Written by Opal Tribble for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Time-Saving Tips: Get creative with iLife

Working with photos and editing video can be fun, but that doesn’t mean you want to spend all your free time in front of the computer. Here are 18 simple iLife tricks that'll speed you through the boring parts.

Macintosh/iPhone software update round-up - October 6, 2008

Section: Software + Apps, Miscellaneous, Third-Party, iPod + iTunes, iPod touch, iPhone + Communications, iPhone, iPhone SDK & Apps, Mac + Computers, SoftwareMacintosh and iPhone software updates and announcements for October 6, 2008: Freeverse has announced they will be temporarily be reducing the price of their popular iPhone racing game, Moto Chaser. Moto Chaser will be available for $0.99, less than the price of a gallon of gas. Developed exclusively for the iPhone and iPod touch, Moto Chaser provides a unique racing experience in the palm of your hand. Utilizing the device’s built-in accelerometer, Moto Chaser features intuitive motion sensitive control, which allows you to steer your vehicle by physically tilting the device either to the left or to the right, giving you the extra precision that you need to make it to the checkered flag in one piece. Berbie Software has announced an update for TrailRunner 1.8, the outdoor oriented route-planning and journaling software for Mac OS X. Among other improvements, the latest update has a full integration with GPSies—a community web site to store, view and share outdoor activities and routes. With this new release, TrailRunner users can easily find routes in their neighborhood and share their own with other hikers, runners and mountain bikers. Subatomic Studios has announced the release of Fieldrunners, an action-based strategy game in the much-loved tower defense genre. In Fieldrunners, you defend and control a field under heavy attack by enemy forces. At your disposal lies a wide array of devastating upgradeable towers, each providing their own unique advantages. You must plan out your strategy wisely in order to stop the oncoming fieldrunners from infiltrating your base. With multiple levels of difficulty, Fieldrunners offers both casual and hardcore players alike a challenging and enjoyable experience. Code Line has a great reputation for outfitting designers with software applications to make their jobs easier. Now, artists on the go can turn to their iPhone or iPod touch for Code Line’s newest creation, Color Expert. Color Expert contains powerful tools to help artists and designers identify, translate, capture and showcase color. And now they can do that anywhere. Opcoders has announced Toolbox 0.8.2 for advanced editing tasks involving bitmap and vector graphics. Toolbox can be used as a texture generator, as a logo editor and more. Focus for this release has been to make Toolbox user friendly. A new Light block has been added that has 12 parameters. The new Light block accepts up to 4 inputs allowing for fine grained control of ambient, diffuse and specular. The Dream Apps has announced Dream Capture 2.2, an update to their video recording utility for Mac OS X. Dream Capture is a simple and intuitive utility to record videos that are perfect for uploading to various video sharing websites, importing into iMovie or GarageBand for the creation of Podcasts or burned to DVD. This makes Dream Capture a great compliment to Apple’s iLife Suite. Dare to be Creative today announced the release of Dragoman 1.4, a universal batch file conversion utility for Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard. Dragoman is a utility application that batch converts images, photos, PDFs, music and archive files with a lightweight drag and drop interface. Big Stone Phone’s audio and photo recorder TalkingPics 1.2 is now available. Create projects with many audio, photos, maps and notes, and make slideshows. Upload files to Mac or Windows via browser. New MP3 compression option. This version adds a new preference to choose either the ultra high quality lossless format or the WAV compressed format. Big Stone Phone’s compelling painting and public art sharing app iGraffiti has been enhanced and is now available at the AppStore. New features include a pick any color from photo option and view the Public Art right from within iGraffiti. Key features include the use Library photos, take snapshots, or use a simple colored canvas. iGraffiti offers unique paint brush controls, choose color from crayons or pick a color from anywhere in the photo and more. Freeverse today announced the release of their acclaimed puzzle game, Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab, for the iPhone and iPod touch. Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab combines multiple game modes that have been enjoyed by millions, all in one great game, and priced at only $0.99. Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Appletell review: Web2 Delight web video download utility

Section: Software + Apps, Video, Web Applications, iPod + iTunes, iTunes, Mac + Computers, Software, Features, Review Provides: View and transfer web videos/photos from select sources Developer: Global Delight Technologies Pvt Ltd Minimum Requirements: Mac OS X v10.4.9, iPhoto 6.0.6, iTunes 7.2, QuickTime 7.2 Retail Price: $19.95 ($16.95 for students/teachers) Availability: Out now I’m not a YouTube kind of guy. I’m just not entertained by kittens falling off things, toddlers explaining the plot to Star Wars in their oh-simple-and-innocent way, or high school kids beating each other up or making out. Or both. Most YouTube users need to learn an important rule of entertainment...just because something’s entertaining to you and your friends, that doesn’t mean it’s actually, you know, entertaining. That being said, there are a lot of wonderful videos to be found, both amateur and (usually uploaded illegally) professional. Old music videos I’ve long forgotten (Russel Mulcahy, we need you now) top the list, but every now and again I also find something new from a group of budding filmmakers that makes me wonder how so many professionals got (and retain) their jobs. Those are great moments, finding something like that, but to share your find, you’ve no choice but to just e-mail URLs or embed the video in your blog. What if you want to show someone on your iPhone or iPod, or even burn a DVD to pass around? There are various options out there—some easier than others, some more reliable than others, some more legal than others—but one of the best options available to Mac users right now is Web2 Delight. Grab It The premise is quite simple; Web2 Delight provides an iTunes style interface for browsing and cataloging various video/photo sites. The video sites are YouTube, Veoh, blip.tv and Dailymotion. Photo sites are Flickr, Picasa, Webshots and Photobucket. To search for content on any of these sites, simply select the site in the left sidebar, then enter your search keywords in the search field above the main display. Your results will appear (somewhat slowly, depending upon the site being searched) in either list, thumbnail, list/thumbnail combo or coverflow format in the program’s main area. It’s all pretty simple and tight, but there are two big drawbacks. First, you can’t search multiple sites at once. If you want to find the highest quality version of a particular music video, for example, you’ll have to search for it in YouTube, check the results, then search again in Veoh, then again in blip.tv, and finally in Dailymotion. Also, you’re restricted to only these sites. If you know of another site where the video is hosted, you can’t simply enter a URL to get there. Once your results appear, you’re given two options on what to do with the videos. You can stream (or view) them, or you can download them to your hard drive. Downloading them converts them to .mp4. Other formats are listed at the Web2 Delight site, but I couldn’t see where to make the switch, although there is a preference to have Web2 Delight leave the downloads in their original format. If you download them, Web2 Delight allows you to create Playlist-like collections of your favorite videos, keeping them all handy for easy reference. It’s too bad this feature doesn’t work for videos you don’t download, but this does prevent dead links when videos/photos are removed from their host site, and it offers more permanence. Convert It Even better, of course, is the fact that the downloaded .mp4 files are iPod/iPhone ready, making this possibly the easiest way to transfer online videos to your iPod or iPhone. In fact, after a video is downloaded, you can right click on the thumbnail to pull up various sharing/transfer options, one of which is “Transfer to iTunes.” This creates a Web2 Delight folder in your iTunes directory (Playlists and all), which will store the transfered videos. Adding them to your iPod is then a simple of dragging it to the device (although you may want to first tag it properly, since Web2 Delight doesn’t). Share It You’re not restricted to iPod/iPhone use, either. With the .mp4 format, you can burn them to DVD. You can use QuickTime to export them to other formats for sharing on the web or elsewhere. You can even bring them into iMovie. The same options are available for photos, of course. And, parents will be happy to note that viewing and transferring restricted videos can be prevented, although whether videos will be properly marked as restricted is anyone’s guess. These video sharing sites aren’t exactly the most reliable when it comes to preventing inappropriate content from reaching minors. Conclusion Despite its shortcomings, Web2 Delight is a fantastic application for those who spend any amount of time watching user created/uploaded content on the web. Pulling content from multiple sources into one application is a decent feature, but it’s the ability to download/convert/share video that makes Web2 Delight well worth its $19.95 price tag. I’d argue that such an application could cost upwards of $40 and still be worth it, making this quite a deal. So, yeah, I may not be a YouTube guy, but I know what entertains me. And Web2 Delight makes it that much easier for me to get to what I want, view it how I want, and share it how I want. Now, if I could just get all of you to quit uploading Your Gossip Girl OMG moments and instead give me more movies about greedy squid bent on revenge, all will be well. Appletell Rating: Buy Web2 Delight Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »